Student’s Name
Title: “One in Six Young People Not in Education”
Supervisors name:
Date of submission:
QUESTION ONE
Consider the views of Frère, Illich, and Gatto. What may be the causal factors in this issue?
Most young people between the ages of 16 and 24 are out of education and employment, as per research carried out in England. The consequences of not completing a high school diploma can be severe. Dropouts have a considerably higher risk of becoming unemployed and having low earnings than those who complete high school (CHUANG, 1997). Through the study of different research findings, books, and other literature about dropout among youths, It is clear that poor education systems are the leading cause of school dropouts among youths.
Ivan Illich viewed institutionalised education as ineffectual. He suggested that education should be self-directed, supported by intentional social relations, and provided through informal arrangements. Through his book “Deschooling Society,” he terms universal education as not feasible. Efforts such as new attitudes of teachers towards the pupils, proliferation of education hardware and software, and attempts to pedagogy’s responsibility will not deliver universal education, according to Illich. The best way to improve education is through the use of the education web, which heightens the opportunity for each individual to transform each moment of his life into one of learning, sharing, and caring.
According to Illich, institutionalising education tends towards institutionalising society. A good education system should serve three purposes: provide all who want to learn with all the available resources at any time in their lives; empower those who want to share their knowledge to reach those who want to learn from them; and finally, give opportunities to individuals who want to present their issues in public to make their challenges known. Learners should not be forced to submit to an obligatory curriculum (ILLICH, 1971).
John Taylor Gatto, who was awarded teacher of the year, claimed that schools do not educate. He viewed schools as major factors that have led to increased social crises and falling new marriages; children were locked away, and there was no mixing with old people in daily life. This results in a community with no future and no past. School is also a major actor in widening the gap between the rich and the poor. School is used as a sorting mechanism, and this results in the creation of the castle system, with youngsters who wonder through subways begging and sleeping on the streets.
Gatto also noticed during his twenty-five years of teaching that schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. People no longer believed that scientists were trained in science classes, politicians in civil classes, or poets in English classes. The truth, according to Gatto, is that schools don’t really teach anything apart from how to obey orders.
The schooling system is the reason for increased school dropouts and increased unemployment among youths between the ages of 16 and 24.. Schools compel children to sit in confinement with people of exactly the same age and social class. This system cuts young people off from the immense diversity of life and the synergy of variety. It scales students to be continuously present and cuts them off from their own part in the future. Also, children are compelled to listen to strangers teaching without consideration of what their passion is. It is absurd for a student to be compelled to listen to a stranger reading poetry, yet the student wants to learn about medicine or construction.
Similarly, schools offer no privacy, as children, even when they are not in school, are still expected to do some homework. Most children don’t have free time; after school there is homework, and some have private lessons. This results in the creation of dependent human beings, unable to fill their own hours or even come up with something meaningful and pleasurable for their existence. It is clear that the education system has played a great role in increasing school dropouts and unemployment. Due to challenges faced by youths in the course of their education journey, some decide to drop out of school. Regardless of how talented one is after dropping out of school, it is difficult to land a job as most jobs are awarded after presenting education certificates. As a result, most youth end up uneducated and unemployed.
QUESTION TWO
Are there any other factors which may contribute to this educational issue?
Other factors that have contributed to school dropout and unemployment among youths between the ages of 16 and 24 are financial ability. Students who are financially stable are less likely to drop out of school. Also, parents with high incomes invest a lot in their children's welfare through education. Poor families have greater difficulty financing their children due to other competing expenditures and the high cost of borrowing.
Parental level of education also plays a role in determining school graduation and dropout rates. As the education level of parents increases, the probability of their child becoming a dropout decreases. Parents with a high educational background devote a lot of resources to supporting their child's education. They devote their financial resources to going the extra mile and ensuring home tuition for their kids. The size of a family also plays a role in determining the rate of school dropout. The amount of resources, especially parents’ time, available within the family to educate their children fails as the size of the family increases. The number of siblings has a negative relationship with the probability of graduation and a positive relationship with the probability of dropping out (ASTONE, 1991).
Drug abuse is also a major cause of school dropout among youths. Drug abuse among youth is a result of peer influence and bad company. Alcohol and drug use among teenagers leads to a variety of behavioural changes, which eventually lead to dropping out of school. Teenage and unplanned pregnancies are also causes of school droputs. Most teens who get pregnant end up dropping out of school. The task of balancing their education and taking care of a baby proves to be impossible for young mothers.
Cultural beliefs are also a reason for increased dropout, especially among girls. Cultural norms and beliefs constrain girls’ education, especially in many developing countries. These cultural norms and beliefs constrain a girl child from making her own decisions or expressing her opinion. Many cultures favour education for boys more than girls. In most cultures, the role of girls does not require education since they are supposed to take care of children and prepare meals. This belief has resulted in an increase in the number of girls dropping out of school.
QUESTION THREE
How might alternative approaches to education prevent or help this issue?
There are some alternative approaches in education that can help reduce the rate of school dropouts among teenagers. These alternatives include making the general physical environment accessible and making general learning resources available for self-directed learning. Also the introduction of a more practical education system instead of an exam-based education system. This equips learners with the best skills, and hence they are able to be more competitive in job markets.
On the other hand, an exambased education system encourages students to memorise, not to learn. Students study to pass their exams, which helps them pass the course, but there are high chances that they forget everything they have learned a week later. Setting up initiative for some students to learn outside of school, most students are unable to learn much when confined to a classroom. Students who have dropped out of school claim that classes are boring, not motivating, or they don’t learn what they want to learn in life.
Most learning is not the result of instructions; rather, it is the result of unrestricted participation in a meaningful setting. Therefore, skills exchange and peer matching are also alternative ways to approach education. People should be permitted to list their skills and the conditions under which they are willing to serve as models for others who are in need of acquiring the same skills. There should also be a communication network that allows students to describe the learning activities in which they wish to partake in order to be matched with the appropriate skill provider.
Skills should not be variable and reliable only when they are achieved through formal schooling. Sharing knowledge is a civil right and therefore should not be conferred only on the employees of a school. Academic freedom should be generalised to guarantee access to an effective exchange of skills. Job markets should employ individuals on the basis of their proven skills and not through education certificates (JORDAN, 1999). This will give youths the freedom to pursue their career in the environment of their choice without fear of being incompetent in job markets.
Making learning relevant: major reasons for students dropping out of school are boredom and disengagement. Education should take students into a broader community and provide opportunities for all learners to connect to academics in a deeper and more powerful way. This can be achieved by integrating internships at local businesses and nonprofit organisations into the regular school week. Through teacher advisers, students should be assisted to find out more about what interests them, research, and locate internships. During internships, job mentors help students understand the connection between work and education, making learning more relevant to them.
In conclusion, though the problem of school dropouts is caused by many factors, the education system is the major cause. Improvement of the education system or use of alternative approaches to education can greatly reduce the percentage of school dropouts, thereby reducing the unemployment level among the youth (MAEHR, 1996).
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Learning Outcome One: Distinguish a variety of approaches to education and their influence/impact upon the learner
There are a variety of factors and approvals that are essential to be deployed to the educational system in the United Kingdom, all aimed at improving the education system and forum in the region. It has been realised that the region has been poised with a greater number of issues, such as school dropout increasing at an alarming rate in the region (BBC, 2016). This has in turn resulted in the United Kingdom governments having to sit down and come up with new tenures and measures as to how to revolutionise and improve the education system in the region. The reasons behind the changes in the education forum and the worrying trend depicted are all articulated by the fact that education has become the backbone of a better nation and the economy of a country.
The approaches detail the incorporation of measures such as the process-rented form of education based on the guide to inquiry lessons, also known as POGIL. This has been labelled and regarded as part of a unique strategy in learning that has touches of social and conservatism. This form of education is regarded as focusing on real-life aspects, issues, and experiences. This, in turn, is able to articulate the learner and make him aware of the existing issues in life (Jennings, 1981). It therefore hardens the learners on how to overcome stresses in real life and come up with new mitigating ways and factors to handle all the issues associated with life. On the other hand, this form of approach helps improve the social being of the learner; thus, the student is able to relate well with others and the surrounding environment, which acts as a plus and a positive measure for the learner.
Other forms of positive approaches detail the incorporation of project-based learning (PBL), which is labelled as a unique and positive form of education. The approach is based on the incorporation of modern technology and a bit of traditional technology to sum up a wider array of its reference and learning materials. The system and approach are viewed as helping the students and learners in question to learn about the challenges and hits of life, all based on undertaking real projects in the education system. The approach provides students with projects that bring them closer to real-life problems; thus, they are taught how to mitigate and handle the problems and challenges at hand.
Learning Outcome Two: Identify and distinguish the social, political, and economic factors that influence education provision in the United Kingdom.
There are a greater number of social problems that are depicted to play part in the issues related to the education system in the United Kingdom. The issues and challenges are articulated and based on the poor and lower-quality services and amenities provided to the education sector in the region. The region has been realised to alienate the importance and essential aspects of education, thus rendering poor and low-quality services to the education system, thus resulting in the production of poor-framed students who are depicted as being illiterate in life situations (England, 2005).
On the essence of the political arena and the issues that arise from the political involvement of the entity in education, detail is given on the higher levels of corruption activities attributed to the education system. Corruption activities in the country and the entire region have rendered the education system helpless, as lower amounts of amenities are provided to the system. The corrupt activities exhaust the resources, which should be articulated to the education forum; thus, most students are made to study under poor conditions, struggling to access quality and better educational materials such as books (Britain, 1959). Above all, the teaching fraternity in the region has been hit with poorly trained teachers, who are given jobs based on the notion that they will be paid lower amounts of salary as opposed to the already qualified professions in education.
On the basis of the economic prevalence and its conditions and issues aligned with the education forum, the major issue surrounds the political factor of payment to the teachers. The teachers are depicted as being on the receiving end as they are poorly paid, thus the services they render to the students are outlined as being of lower quality. This is based on the fact that the teachers are economically depressed and thus cannot give out the best of their professional structure to the learners.
Learning Outcome Three: Summarize issues related to education and extend these to include alternative approaches
The alternative approaches of the project-based education system and the use of the guide of the process of lesson inquiry to revolutionise the education system have, however, not been met with positive energy all around, despite the importance of the approaches to the current education curriculum in the region. The project-based approach to the education system has been based on issues related to the social strands, detailing the issues of the learners being unable to completely connect and relate well with the environment and all its resources (Keith, 1980). On the inquiry lesson process approach, it has been poised with issues of the economic prevalence of underpaid teachers who are economically depressed and thus outsource poor services.
References
ASTONE, N. M. A. M. S., 1991. FAMILY STRUCTURE,PARENTAL PRACTICES AND HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION. s.l.:AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW.
BBC, 2016. “One in Six Young People Not in Education”. [Online]
Available at: http://bbc.co.uk/news/education-19342998
[Accessed 10 May 2017].
Britain, G., 1959. Education in the United Kingdom dependancies. London: H.M Stationery Off.
CHUANG, H. L., 1997. HIGH SCHOOL YOUTHS DROPOUT AND RE-ENROLMENT BEHAVIOUR .. s.l.:ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION REVIEW.
England, H. E. f. c. f., 2005. Higher Education in the United Kingdom. Bristol: Higher Education funding council for England.
ILLICH, I., 1971. DESCHOOLING SOCIETY. s.l.:s.n.
Jennings, B., 1981. Adult Educcation in United Kingdom. s.l.:Prague: European Centre for Leisure and Education.
JORDAN, W. J. M. J. &. L. J., 1999. RETHINKING THE CAUSES OF HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT.. s.l.:s.n.
Keith, G., 1980. Economics Education in the United Kingdom. London: Heinemann.
MAEHR, M. L. &. M., 1996. TRANSFORMING SCHOOL CULTURES. s.l.:WESVIEW PRESS.
